The sequence of certain phenomena connected with urbanization istypical of all European countries. The actual course of these phenomena and theirintensity results from the specificity of a given country, and especially the level ofdevelopment, cultural tradition and from transformations of social structures. Ourattention will be concentrated on the most important forces shaping social groupdistribution in urban space: land rent in Italy, planning and egalitarian policy inPoland, traditional and cultural values, impact of housing and social policy,ideological factors. The last part concentrates on the issue of usefulness of the Italiancapitalist experience for post-communist urban development of Polish cities.